Hot dog making/Smoker

[dtabor]

So Im finally having the time to start making hot dogs and other delicious concoctions. A question that came up, when making hot dogs, the last step is to put them in your smoker. Do you have to actually use “Smoke”? Hot dogs from the store are just cooked, not smoked so I was wondering if that is the way we should be doing it at home or just put them in the smoker with not wood so that they are just cooked and not actually smoked.

[Jonathon]

dtabor Nope you do not have to use smoke if you do not want to! I have made “smoked” pepperoni like this before. I still end up using the Pk-100 to “smoke” it but I don’t add any woodchips so it is just using the heat source to cook it. You could use an oven to do this but the PK-100 starts lower than most ovens will go and I like to start my sausage, hot dogs or other cured meats out very low and step them in gradually.

[Parksider]

dtabor I smoke mine lightly and they are awesome. I use the cellulose casings, smoke for about 2 hours around 120-150F then into a 170F water bath to finish cooking them. I think the chili dog seasoning with a touch of smoke can’t be beat.

[dtabor]

Thank you for the responses! The ones I tried that a friend made were smoked and I agree that they are delicious. I was just thinking about store hot dogs and others a friend has had made by someone for him and they were not so thats where this question came from.

Thank you again!

[tinnerst]

Parksider